Study Pals
by Kathrine
Summary: An afterschool study session leads Takeru to look back on his feelings for his best friend...


Study Pals  
Written by Kathrine  
Rated G 

Hey everyone, here's a short lil' Takari for you...contest information at the  
end!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

Chatter filled the small crowded classroom, dimly lit by only half the  
florescent lights. The teacher stood at the front beside the overhead   
projector, shouting the lesson above his student's voices'. A cool breeze  
from the outside slid through the musty press of bodies with the promise of  
rain.

Yagami Hikari sighed softly, resting her chin in her hand as she toyed  
with her pencil. She glanced up at the clock, which told her that she still  
had a boring ten minutes left.

When she glanced back down at her desk, she saw a small folded note.  
Unobtrusively, she opened it to see familiar hiragana scrawled down the  
paper. She smiled quickly at the simple note, which read: *yawn*. Hikari  
shot a glance at her best friend across the row. He gave her a slow wink,  
grinning at her.

Putting her pencil to good use, Hikari quickly replied.

'Is this class ever going to end?' She tossed the note onto his desk.

They continued their note passing until class ended, the other students  
effectively masking their movements. Just before the bell rang, Hikari read  
his last note. 'Want to come over to my place to study?'

At the ring of the bell, Hikari caught her friend's eyes and nodded with  
a smile. "Of course, Takeru." She said aloud.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

"The function of f(x) is equal to the square of three(x) while the  
function of g(x) is equal to (x) minus two. Find function (f) of (g) times  
(x) and state any restrictions...gah, Hikari, do you understand any of this?"

Hikari bent her head over Takeru's paper with a small frown. Takeru  
breathed in deep of her heady perfume, and then sternly told himself to  
focus. "Aha!" He sharply brought himself around at Hikari's soft  
exclamation. "See, Takeru, you just need to put the g(x) value where the (x)  
is in the f(x) value..."

As she showed him, the blond began nodding with growing understanding.  
He shot her a lop-sided grin and said, "You make this seem so easy! Guess  
I'm just a dumb blond..."

Hikari elbowed him. "You are not!" She exclaimed in reproof. "Don't  
you dare say such things in my presence, Takaishi Takeru!"

"Yes, Yagami san." He replied meekly, and she laughed. Takeru fought  
hard to keep her melodious laugh from overriding his senses. He didn't know  
what he was thinking when he invited her over...

They had been best friends for eight years now...half their lives. And  
he loved her far too much to screw that over because of the urges of his  
adolescent boy's body.

A small smile appeared on Takeru's lips. Yes, he had admitted to  
himself two years ago that he was in love with Yagami Hikari. And he had  
also realized at that time that he could never tell her.

"Takeru? Are you still in there?" He blinked at Hikari, who smiled.  
"I asked if you thought we should switch to a different subject, and since  
you seem to lack focus towards Math..." She teased.

Takeru blushed, but he quickly covered it up behind his laughing.  
"Yeah...how 'bout we switch to English?" They switched their books, and  
Takeru settled comfortably against the wall, opening his text with the  
strange characters. He felt a warmth settle next to him, and he shot a quick  
glance to his side, where Hikari sat mere millimeters from him, her head  
bent diligently towards the book. Smiling softly, he turned back to his  
studies. _No, I can never tell her. Her friendship means far too much to  
me._ He knew that if she didn't return his feelings, and he told her of  
his own, they would no longer be as close as they were now. And no matter  
how much his heart longed and hoped for her to be his, he knew he would feel  
horrible to lose what they had. With those thoughts tumbling through his  
head, Takeru turned his attention towards his book.

After a half-hour of studying their textbooks, Hikari said, "Alright, we  
should probably start on our novels."

Takeru groaned good-naturedly. "It's so hard!"

Laughing, Hikari suggested, "Why don't we read it lout loud, together?  
We can take turns."

"Okay, that sounds like a good idea." Takeru brightened, then grinned  
at Hikari. "You go first!"

So Hikari opened her novel, titled "Harry Potter and the Philosopher  
Stone". Even though it was sometimes hard to understand, Takeru loved the  
book. It was fun to picture all the trouble that seemed to find the boy  
wizard, and to try to figure out who the main antagonist was. Listening to  
Hikari's voice rising and falling in pitch and giving life to the characters  
of the book made it even better. All too soon, Hikari finished her chapter  
and it was Takeru's turn. Heaving a loud melodramatic sigh, the boy cracked  
open his novel to the page. He was rewarded with Hikari's laughter and a  
poke in the ribs.

"You were supposed to be following in your book." She accused, but  
softened the rebuke with a smile.

"Listening to you read it was more interesting." He replied, but Takeru  
didn't catch his friends' quick blush. Carefully deciphering the letters,  
Takeru began. "Malfoy couldn't believe his eyes when he saw that Henry..."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

"Hey, Hikari, do you know what 'petrified' means?" Takeru pulled  
himself out of the cocoon the book had woven around him when he encountered a  
word he didn't recognize. "Hikari?" As he looked beside him, Takeru  
suddenly realized his lap was very warm and it almost seemed that there was  
something in it. When he didn't see Hikari, he looked down to see the  
brunette sleeping, her head pillowed in his lap. He smiled fondly,  
tentatively touching her face. "Oh, 'Kari. My reading isn't that boring, is  
it?" He murmured, softly smoothing her hair. Taking extra care, he arranged  
her into a more comfortable position, and continued reading aloud...quietly.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

Sometime later, Hikari woke from her slumber, disoriented. Without bothering  
to open her eyes, she urged her sleep-clouded brain to work. The last thing  
she remembered was Takeru's soothing voice reading their English assignment.  
Her eyes flew open. 'Of course. TK invited me over to study.' Her eyes  
flew open as her senses registered her extremely warm 'pillow'. Pulling her  
head up, Hikari flushed when she realized she'd been sleeping in her best  
friend's lap. Her eyes fixed curiously on Takeru's face, and she smiled when  
she realized he was asleep. Slowly backing away from him, she raised one  
hand to gently brush away his blond locks. "I love you, TK...even if I can't  
tell you." She whispered, then smiling, she took the book from his  
unresisting fingers and gently tossed it to the side. Lying her head back  
down in his lap, Hikari quickly fell back to dreams of her blond best friend.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

A few hours later, the door to the Takaishi residence opened, and Yamato  
and his mother walked in. "Thanks for helping me with the groceries,  
Yamato."

"Just glad I ran into you after practice to help." He replied, putting  
his bag of groceries on the counter. "Where's Takeru?" He called over his  
shoulder as he entered the living room.

"Oh, he should be here...Takeru?"

Just then, Yamato spotted two figures sleeping over in the corner.  
Yamato shushed his mother, and motioned her over. Nancy joined her eldest  
son, and her hands covered her mouth in surprise. Yamato grinned. "Where's  
your camera?" He asked softly. She smiled, and quickly went to get it from  
the kitchen. Silently handing it to her son, Nancy Takaishi watched her son  
snap a picture of Hikari and Takeru. Yamato handed the camera back, and  
flashed her one of his famous Ishida smiles. "Let's let them sleep a little  
longer." He suggested softly, and she nodded.

"They are adorable. It's only a matter of time before he asks her out."  
She confided, and laughing softly, they left the two alone.

Hikari sighed softly in her sleep, and Takeru unconsciously tightened  
his arm around her. Though unknown to each other, they joined each other in  
their dreams, where they could be free of the fear of rejection, and be  
together.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

So what did you think? Review please! 

CONTEST INFORMATION

Yay, yay, I'm having a contest!  
Alright, here's the deal: This is going to be a Romance contest, and it can  
be any couple from Digimon (Just 'cause I happen to like Takari doesn't mean  
I'll be biased, don't worry!) I'm still figuring out who will be judges, so  
I'll try and make sure to find people who prefer other couples. The stories  
MUST BE below NC-17 (sorry, but if you know me, you'll know that I don't like  
hentai stuff!) What I'm looking for is a well-written story and plot-line, with  
everyone reasonably in-character. If the character were to do something that  
could be seen as out of character, be sure to give GOOD reasons WHY they would  
do such things. Got it? Good.

As for prizes, first, second, and third place winners will have their stories  
up in a special section of the Digimon site I'm currently designing. Their  
names and stories will also be put up in my favorites on my profile. As well,  
if they so choose, first place will get a story dedicated to them written by  
me in the genre and pairing (if it's a romance fic) of their choice. Basic  
plot is also up to them, but like the entries to the contest, it MUST be below  
NC-17. Even more then the fact that I don't like reading hentail fics, I can  
NOT for the life of me write them!^-^

The tentative closing date at the moment for the contest is the end of May.  
More details later on that. To submit a story, make sure it's up on Fanfiction.net  
and send me a copy of the story along with your username, e-mail, and the   
title, rating, and pairing of your fic to my email address at katienf@hotmail.com  
with the subject line "Fanfiction Contest".

Good luck! 


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